It does not speak well for our churches, that such expressions of deep-toned penitence and love should have a tendency to disturb or diminish the solemnity of worship. Serene reverence is truly an inseparable element of public devotion. If this be injured by such manifestation, we should inquire whether the cause of disturbance be in us, or in the penitent. If the penitent really discovers that the wrath of God abides on him, or finds that Jesus Christ is able to save the chief of sinners, and receives these truths with feelings which he cannot suppress, what is there to disturb "our reverence and godly fear?" There is nothing to prevent our reverencing the authority that condemned him, or the love that forgave him. The unrestrained expressions of real compunction are not extravagant; it is only the imitation of them, by those who do not actually feel them, that is outrageous. The dislike of them in the church, is a morbid dread of the world's disapproval of them; as if the public opinion of a world, confessedly inimical, were to be the judge and guide of spiritual and holy operations, and the arbiter of the best methods of conversion.

"When

The pentecostal revival was of this character: they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do?" Peter instantly directed his discourse to their case, and then "fear came upon every soul; and they, continuing daily, with one accord, in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people." Does my reader feel that, had he been present on the day of Pentecost, his devout and godly fear in worship would have been diminished by what he saw and heard? Then the fault must be in him, and not in the converts who were "pricked in their hearts." These men were guilty, and it was right that they should feel their guilt, for they would only feel the real truth of their case. They had a deep sense of a crime which they could neither recall nor undo. They had compunctions of conscience which they could not heal. They had serious and overpowering alarm and apprehension of the wrath of God against their sin. And they had intense desires, amounting to agony, to be delivered from this distress. These emotions were real, were appropriate to the truths exhibited, and were what ought to be felt. Was it wrong, then, to express them? Their ex

pression will, indeed, disturb, and ought to disturb, the cold and dull uniformity of ceremonial worship, but will not diminish the reverential solemnity of fervent devotion. Let a church, then, that prays for pentecostal effusions of the Holy Spirit, inquire whether it be prepared for pentecostal scenes and pentecostal animation.

VII. Both produce numerous conversions. In seasons of revival a nation is born in a day, and the number of converts is as the dew from the womb of the morning. Men crowd to the house of God as doves to their windows, and hundreds and thousands are added unto the Lord. The church is edified as God's building, and reared progressively by a great accession of living stones. The number of churches is greatly augmented, and new congregations are formed and planted in every direction. In many instances, the converts have been too numerous to be received into the fellowship of the church, according to the usual form. An increase in the number of the saved is highly delightful to the church: as the church is social, it rejoices in accessions to its fellowship and strength; as it is benevolent, it feels happy that men are rescued from the danger of perishing; as it is holy, it delights in the diminution of sin and the increase of purity; as it is active, it is glad in the fruits of its labor; and as it is the bride of Christ, it glories in his seeing of the travail of his soul.

These numerous conversions were characteristic of the revival of Pentecost: "The same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." "And the Lord added to the church daily such as had been brought into a state to be saved." When Christ promised that the Spirit of Truth should come and convince the world of sin, the promise comprehended all that was accomplished in these numerous conversions. Had the same augmentation taken place on the next sabbath, it would not have been deemed an excess or extravagance beyond the intent of the promise; and had it taken place every day from Pentecost till now, the extent and fullness of the promise would have justified it. Fear not that, at a pentecostal rate, conversions would become too numerous. According to calculations current for general purpose, eight persons die every minute, making in the twenty-four hours the sum of eleven thousand five hundred and twenty. Take out of this sum three thousand real converts to Christ, and there will remain eight thousand five hundred and twenty, an awful amount, after all deductions for

infants, of souls perishing for lack of knowledge. Were the eight hundred millions of the earth's population under the powerful ministrations of truth, and three thousand converted every day, very near eight hundred years would expire before the whole lump would be leavened. The church must not be satisfied with an accession of converts, that only keeps up with the number of the dying and the backsliding, she must seek an augmentation that will increase and multiply her holy energies.

VIII. Both give a powerful impulse to benevolence. Religion enlarges the heart and unclinches the hand. The religious institutions of England, since the revivals of Whitefield and Wesley, have given an impulse that has thrilled the world; and the benevolent societies of America are, like her rivers, numerous, large, deep, full, ever-flowing, and irresistible. Revivals have never impeded the measure of benevo lence, nor manacled the energies of charity. Revivals make men devise liberal things. Money leaves the heart and gets to the hand, and the hand conveys it to the treasury of Christ. The Christian feels that the only distinction which money confers on him is, that he is better furnished for doing good, and that it increases his responsibility as a good steward. Every hypocrite can submit to a religion that costs him nothing. The love of money is the root of all evil, and the resignation of money for Christ, at the call of duty, and in faith, is the root of all practical good. The Holy Spirit which, in revivals, sets his seal on the souls, and the bodies, and the characters of his people, sets his seal also upon their property, and it becomes sanctified to Christ.

"All

Such were the effects of the revival of Pentecost. that believed were together, and had all things in common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need." "Neither was there any among them that lacked; for as many as were possessors of lands or houses, sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet; and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need." This modification of benevolence took its form and shape from the peculiar circumstances of the time, and is no more binding upon us than their continuing in the temple. Attachment to money is one of the most virulent passions of the depraved heart. Nothing but religion can subdue it, and one of its first operations is to open the hand that grasps the

world. Revivals of religion have done more to benefit the world, even in civilization, than the revivals of literature or revivals of commerce.

IX. Both exert a stong and mighty influence on public opinion. Religion rises on the world with the beauty, the brightness, the power, and the majesty, of the sun, claiming the reverence, the veneration, and the homage of all men. There are frequently, in revivals, seasons in which the solemnity was so great, and the silence so profound, as to oppress the mind with an emotion of insufferable awe. The impressions on the multitude have been deep and subduing. Convictions were felt amidst the stillness of death. Men, at these times, retire with their convictions, and with their judge, to an obscure retreat or the sacred closet, and there transact their high affairs with a solemnity akin to that of the judgment-day.

This is much exemplified in the protracted meetings in America. Multitudes resort to them, in a disposition of unusual candor, to listen to the message of truth, and they are softened and subdued into deep seriousness. They desire to hear more. They reflect more. They expect Christians to converse with them. The deep concern of others for them makes them feel for themselves. Even those who scoff at a revival cannot deny the power of the scene. Its influences baptize the economy of families, the education of colleges, the measures of civic communities, and the productions of the press.

On the day of Pentecost, "Fear came upon every soul" "the multitude came together and were confounded”. "and all that believed were together, praising God and having favor with all the people." At the breaking out of this revival, the multitude were so affected by it as to be "confounded," disturbed, and violently agitated with emotions of astonishment. As it advanced, a feeling of indescribable veneration and solemn fear pervaded all the spectators, all clamor had hushed into the stillness of reverence, and the rancorous had softened into the awful silence of deep reflection. Eventually the revival developed such glory and beauty and power, as to shed around an attractive influence, so winning, subduing, melting, and persuasive, as to gain the favor, and influence the public opinion, of the great mass of the people. What majesty and beauty must there be in the

religion that brought fear upon every soul, yet gave Christians favor with all the people!

X. Both are permanent in their effects. Many say of a revival, "Let us see how this will wear after the effervescence has ceased." The result of revivals has been fully, calmly, and honestly investigated by the churches in America. About the year 1829, questions were sent to every minister in New England, to ascertain the number of excommunications, which had taken place before revivals and after them. The answers give generally this account: that those admitted into the church during former revivals received a new impulse; that their piety was of a higher order, and their usefulness greater; that the excommunications had been most numerous among those who had joined the church before revivals; but that, among the offsprings of revivals, they had been comparatively It is a lamentable truth that, at these seasons, men who are not truly contrite, will make professions of repentance, and seck for relief from remorse in the communion of the church. These, after a short time, dismiss their religious convictions, return to their wallowing in sin, and cause the ways of God and the influences of the Holy Spirit to be derided.

rare.

Such was the revival of the day of Pentecost. Improper characters, like Ananias and Sapphira, Simon Magus, and others, thrust themselves among the disciples. Should it be said, "If God be the author of revivals, why not prevent this impure mixture?" we can only say that we have no grounds, in the character of any of the works of God, to expect such an interference. God is the author of rain, but, fall when and where it may, it occasions numerous inconveniences to many; - of spring, a delightful season, in which weeds grow fast and high;-of summer, which engenders many reptiles and noxious insects; - of a thaw, after a long hard frost, the operations of which are mingled with accompaniments that are truly displeasing. Shall we then say that these things are not of God? No: for every reflecting soberminded man must avow that, notwithstanding their temporary inconveniences, they are good on the whole, and they result in a splendid amount of benefit.

Many irregularities creep in with the spring seasons of spiritual life, but, after all, no irregularity is so opposed to the gospel of Christ and to the Holy Spirit, as the regular formality of a lukewarm church. It is not to be wondered at